The gospel for Tuesday of the second week of Advent is taken from Matthew 18. Jesus said to his disciples, what is your opinion? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the 99 in the hills and go in search of the stray? And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the 99 that did not stray in just the same way. It is not the will of your Heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost. I often wonder how the disciples would receive a simple story like this, based on their own human experiences of being preoccupied by what is lost and wanting always to find it.

Jesus is describing God, God’s life in you and in me. And he’s saying that he is very, very much engaged in the work of finding us, searching for us, helping us back into the flock. It’s a beautiful image of the church, of a community of people who care deeply for one another. Please take a moment to reflect, and then I will close with a prayer. Sam sa. Satan sa.

Foreign. Closing prayer Awaken our imaginations to the beauty of a simple story like this that reminds us over and over again that we don’t have a distant God, a God who is not connected to us. He’s deeply connected. He’s inside of us. He worries about how we’re doing in his energy. His grace, His Holy Spirit guides us always.

And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.